97
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100CineVueChristopher MachellCineVueChristopher MachellAs a fictionalised account of what was once described as the worst European genocide in the post-war period, Quo Vadis, Aida? is wrenching and vital in its bitter grief. As a study of political and diplomatic inertia in the face of contemporary global human tragedies, it could not be more urgent.
- 100The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThere’s a real tragic power in this almost unbearably brutal and shocking movie from writer-director Jasmila Žbanić.
- 100VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangThis is not historical revisionism, if anything, Quo Vadis, Aida? works to un-revise history, re-centering the victims’ plight as the eye of a storm of evils — not only the massacre itself, but the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference.
- 100Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangQuo Vadis, Aida? re-creates history in the present tense, with a gut-clutching immediacy that Žbanić makes bearable through sheer formal restraint.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe subject is horrifying but the screen is hard to look away from, as the situation becomes a powder keg of tension.
- 90Screen DailyLee MarshallScreen DailyLee MarshallThe energy and passion of Zbanic’s fresh, new, direct gaze at the conflict comes through in every frame.
- 88RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJasmila Zbanic’s Quo Vadis, Aida? is a razor-sharp incrimination of failed foreign policies from around the world embedded in a deeply humanist and moving character study of the kind of person that these policies leave behind.
- 80The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeThe Observer (UK)Mark KermodeLike the unblinking closeup that concludes the deeply moving (and ultimately redemptive?) epilogue to Quo Vadis, Aida?, Žbanić’s powerful and personal film keeps its eyes wide open.
- 80EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid ParkinsonThis study in chaos and calculation not only makes for harrowingly compelling viewing, but it also exposes the apathy of an international community that simply turned the other way.